The 1955–56 European Cup was the first season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. It was won by Real Madrid, who defeated Reims 4–3 in the final at Parc des Princes, Paris, on 13 June 1956. UEFA officially inaugurated on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. However, clubs participating in the first season of the European Cup were selected by French football magazine L'Equipe on the basis that they were representative and prestigious clubs in Europe. When the tournament started, Real Madrid, Anderlecht, AC Milan, Rot-Weiss Essen, Reims, Djurgården and AGF were the reigning champions of their respective national leagues. English champions Chelsea initially agreed to compete and were drawn against Swedish side Djurgården; however, under pressure from the Football League, who saw the tournament as a distraction to domestic football, they later withdrew from the competition, and were replaced by Gwardia Warsaw of Poland. Scottish champions Aberdeen were controversially overlooked by the SFA in favour of Hibernian who finished in fifth place. They were considered one of the best teams in Scotland, having won the Scottish title in 1950–51 and 1951–52, but the main reason they were invited was because they were the only team in the country to install floodlights on their grounds. Dynamo Moscow, the champions of the Soviet Union, did not participate due to climatic restrictions. . This was also the only UEFA tournament to include a representative of Saarland, unified into West Germany in 1957. The first round pairings were fixed by the organisers and not drawn as would be the case for all future European Cup matches.

Teams

A total of 16 teams participated in the competition.

Bracket

First round

First leg

Second leg

Partizan won 8–5 on aggregate. Real Madrid won 7–0 on aggregate. Djurgården won 4–1 on aggregate. Hibernian won 5–1 on aggregate. Vörös Lobogó won 10–4 on aggregate. Reims won 4–2 on aggregate. Rapid Wien won 6–2 on aggregate. Milan won 7–5 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

First leg

Note – differences in information: RSSSF website indicates that the goal scored on 26th minute was scored by Robert Körner, while UEFA website indicates that it was scored by his younger brother Alfred Körner.

Second leg

Hibernian won 4–1 on aggregate. Reims won 8–6 on aggregate. Real Madrid won 4–3 on aggregate. Milan won 8–3 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

First leg

Second leg

Reims won 3–0 on aggregate. Real Madrid won 5–4 on aggregate.

Final

Top goalscorers